DHL: Various Nuances of Work

The DHL started in the USA 45 years ago: three American entrepreneurs began to deliver international correspondence by air, and this service turned out to be in huge demand. Today, DHL operates in 220 countries around the world. In the case of express delivery, a parcel arrives at an addressee a day after it was sent.

In all countries, DHL Express interacts with customers in a specific pattern. They have an international standard, and it is important for them to comply with it at any service station. Delivery is generally a very structured business. If everything wasn’t laid out to all the employees of all the departments in advance, then the process will turn into complete chaos.

Customers and Products

DHL mainly works with corporate clients. If an electric motor broke on some large conveyor and it needs to be urgently changed, then the companies turn to DHL, asking to deliver a spare part from one factory to another. Individuals, as a rule, make purchases in online stores - this is not exactly DHL’s profile, but DHL works with these clients from time to time. 

When it comes to regular clients that don’t own a business, DHL usually delivers clothes and electronics, the latter implies a harder process of transportation and delivery since they need to be specially certified. Enterprises deliver spare parts, some missing components, consulting companies deliver documents. Often DHL delivers product samples so that, before making a large order, a client can test a product. A large volume of DHL’s cargoes is biological samples, for example, blood, which is transported as part of drug testing.

Customs

Customs legislation varies from country to country, but the principles of customs work are the same in almost every single country in the world. Of course, there are different groups of goods, there are special customs rules, different types of duties – an entire book can be written about it. A cargo simply has to be registered on the basis of the legislation of the countries from which it is being exported and where it arrives.

DHL Express has all the needed information about customs procedures in each country. The company has information about each cargo that they ship or receive, they give customs inspectors everything they need. As for most of the goods that DHL delivers, it takes only about an hour to get them out from customs.

Transportation difficulties

There are many difficulties in any business, and they arise everywhere, this also applies to delivery services. The work of an airport, tornadoes, floods, storms, volcanic eruptions, dispatchers' strikes - all this can lead to flight delays, and sometimes, to a complete cessation of flights. In addition, there are difficult regions and countries - Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan. And this is not to mention the most basic of issues such as traffic jams, the human factor or some very remote address. That is why it is so important to work by standards and have some kind of backup option in everything that a delivery service does.